7 of the best performance pedals — a handy component to save weight on, but which ones are the best value?

Updated February 4, 2019

Welcome to the latest edition of road.cc’s buyer's guide to performance in which you’ll find our pick of seven of the best weight-saving pedals from sensibly-priced options to ones that are frankly a bit silly.

A change of pedals can lop a chunk of weight off your bike and also give you a chance to switch to pedals that work better in other ways such as providing a broader platform for your shoes or user-friendly double-sided mechanism.

In the selection of lightweight, high-end pedals below we’ve picked pedals designed to save weight but that also improve over regular or less expensive designs in other ways.

For example, Look’s latest Keo Blade pedals have a very large steel contact plate, which in theory makes the cleat — and therefore the shoe — steadier on the pedal.

The Hairsine ratios for these pedals are based on Shimano’s 330g R540 pedals, except for the Ritcheys which we’ve compared with Shimano’s 374g M520s.

The Ritchey WCS Micro Road Pedals are lightweight, sleek pedals for SPD-cleat users. At 208g (plus cleats), they’re are at the lighter end of heavy; they’re almost certainly the lightest option if you want to use shoes you can easily walk in.

Once clicked in they feel just as good as any other high-end SPD-style pedal, with a decent amount of float, no fore-aft slop and clean entry/exit even with grime underfoot. Being single-sided you have to look a bit, and without the SPD-SL's large rear end they don't hang ready to clip into.

We didn't find flipping them over to engage to be any hassle, the compactness meaning they didn't want to spin all the way over under their own gravity. Double-sided SPDs might be a boon off-road where you are clipping in-out frequently, but for even moderately-experienced road users the single-sidedness of the Ritcheys shouldn't be an issue.

The Pro version we reviewed is no longer available, but the WCS model is lighter and has recently had a bearing and axle upgrade to prolong its service life.

Those who love Speedplays rave about the low weight, adjustability, and shallow stack. But it's undeniable they need more looking after than most pedals, the large cleat is awkward to walk in (the new aero cleat is a big improvement on the original naked cleat though) and they're susceptible to clogging from even the smallest amount of dirt.

But if you have knees that are in any way fragile, or you want pedals that are incredibly easy to enter and release but fit stiff-soled road racing shoes, their free float and double-sided design make Speedplays well worth considering.

Shimano's top-level Dura-Ace R9100 pedals offer loads of security and stability and they're a few grams lighter than the previous version, although still not quite as light as some of their biggest rivals.

The pedals feature an injection-moulded carbon composite body with three small stainless steel plates across the centre to provide protection from wear. These plates are moulded in and aren't replaceable (the screwed-on plate of the previous generation Dura-Ace R9000 pedal wasn't replaceable either).

The pedal platform is 66mm wide – a little wider than previously – and provides plenty of stability. That broad platform is one of the best things about these pedals, and is especially welcome when you're riding out of the saddle.

Despite their conventional steel springs, these carbon-bodied Look Keo clones from the upmarket arm of Taiwanese pedal giant Wellgo are very light, thanks to their pared-down carbon fibre bodies and titanium axles.

Out on the road these provide you with a whole lot of stability. That wide pedal body gives you a solid platform underneath your foot for putting down the power, with no rocking from side to side. The mechanism hangs on to your cleat securely, and if you wind up the tension there’s virtually no chance of your foot disconnecting unexpectedly.

This is the lightest incarnation of Look’s Keo pedals, and uses a weight-saving carbon fibre leaf spring to provide the retention force in place of the usual steel coil.

We like the less expensive Keo Blade and these have even more bells and whistles, including a very large steel contact plate for stability (700mm2 rather than the Max’s 400mm2) and titanium axle.

The latest versions of the Keo Blade Carbon and Keo Blade Carbon Ti have interchangeable leaf springs; they come set up with 12Nm springs, but there's a 16Nm spring in the box, and a special tool to help make the job easy. You can also buy a 20Nm spring, but Look warns that you shouldn’t come crying to them if you crash because you can’t get out of the 20Nm version.

The Time Xpresso 15 pedals are extremely light and clipping in/twisting out could hardly be easier. The downside is the price, and the cleats wear noticeably faster than those of other brands.

At just 140g for the pair, they're phenomenally light thanks to carbon bodies, titanium axles, aluminium top plates and ceramic bearings. Clipping in is very easy thanks to a spring mechanism that stays open after you click out.

At just 120g/pair these race-day-only pedals are Speedplay's demonstration that the Zero design can be made extraordinarily light. Speedplay has often displayed superlight bikes at trade shows; these pedals help make bikes like those even lighter.

The low weight is achieved by the use of every lightweight material you can think of: carbon-reinforced thermoplastic bodies; ceramic bearings; titanium axles; titanium bolts; and aluminium top plates. The cleats have been lightened too with carbon fiber replacing the plastic and aluminium fasteners instead of steel. They're bonkers expensive, but you have to admire the fanaticism.

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The aim of road.cc buyer's guides is to give you the most, authoritative, objective and up-to-date buying advice. We continuously update and republish our guides, checking prices, availability and looking for the best deals.

Our guides include links to websites where you can buy the featured products. Like most sites we make a small amount of money if you buy something after clicking on one of those links. We want you to be happy with what you buy, so we only include a product in a if we think it's one of the best of its kind.

As far as possible that means recommending equipment that we have actually reviewed, but we also include products that are popular, highly-regarded benchmarks in their categories.

Our official grumpy Northerner, John has been riding bikes for over 30 years since discovering as an uncoordinated teen that a sport could be fun if it didn't require you to catch a ball or get in the way of a hulking prop forward.

Road touring was followed by mountain biking and a career racing in the mud that was as brief as it was unsuccessful.

Somewhere along the line came the discovery that he could string a few words together, followed by the even more remarkable discovery that people were mug enough to pay for this rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work. He's pretty certain he's worked for even more bike publications than Mat Brett.

The inevitable 30-something MAMIL transition saw him shift to skinny tyres and these days he lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

18 comments

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Gasman Jim[220 posts]1 year ago

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R.E. Dura Ace pedals.

1. The steel plate is now moulded in and therefore isn't replaceable.

2. The included cleats with Dura Ace pedals are the blue +/- 2 degree models, not the yellow +/- 6 degree version.

I don't know much about any of the other pedals you've reviewed, but I do wonder how many factual errors those reviews contain!

I love the Time pedals, I've got the expresso 4, a little bit heavier but a whole lot cheaper. Just watch the back of the pedal body, it can be a little bit sharp on the corner angle (as I found out when I miss clipped and spun the pedal round into my leg! a tiny bit of light sanding rounded the corners off just enough.

You can buy replacement titanium spindles for Speedplay and all the spare parts you'll ever need from Chinese eBay suppliers. The quality is excellent and a fraction of the price.

Yes, I got a pair of Ti spindles and nearly halved the weight compared to having the stainless spindles. Bearing sets are easy to find, too. Plus dismantling and re-assembling them is much easier than Speedplay make out.

instructions included with the bearings. I would recommend buying a decent pair of pliers for the retaining spring washer.

Titanium bow tie plates and bolts are also available on EBay (the alloy ones are too but don't expect them to last long). My 'stainless' zeros are now down to 150g at a cost that compares extremely well to Speedplay's Ti version.

The Nanogram version is insane, not only do they use alloy in wear areas but the axles are shorter too. More for looking at than riding on.

Speedplay's recent price increases are making me think about changing. MRRP for walkable cleats is now £70. You can find them at £50, but still - £50!

If you like the pedals and cleats, I be tempted to say just don't buy the walkables - no need - I know I won't be. Old style cleats and KeepOnKovers here, price is reasonable, clipping in is even easier and they last for years.

Speedplay's recent price increases are making me think about changing. MRRP for walkable cleats is now £70. You can find them at £50, but still - £50!

If you like the pedals and cleats, I be tempted to say just don't buy the walkables - no need - I know I won't be. Old style cleats and KeepOnKovers here, price is reasonable, clipping in is even easier and they last for years.

I've purchased some Ali express speedplay cleats. $12 inc shipping and another $6 for rubber protectors that you can leave on whilst riding. they work just as well, been using for over 6 months, no issues. Design of the cleat is so simple.

I've not seen any rapid wear on speedplay, they outlast shimano spd's by at least 3 to 1 and as for clogging, I've not had any issue at all.

Maintainance is a bit exaggered. once a year regreasing, a 2 min job and a bit of dry lube on the cleats every now and then, hardly a hardship and more than happy to take on.

Look - killed my knees

Time - snapped 2 RXS pedals, never again

Shimano SPDSL - Fantastic, bullet proof, can't fault except would be nice to get the cleat further back, just needed speedplay to assist with injury and haven't gone back.

Have had two sets of Look Keo Blades, nice at first but in both cases water got into the bearings and made them rough as hell (I never pressure wash, just rain and road water and ordinary washing was the cause) - I only bought the second pair because I thought the first time it was just bad luck. My DA9100’s on the other hand are now 18months and two winters old and turning as smooth as the day I bought them.

Being interested in the Xpedo Thurst 8, I checked the review from road.cc (link at the bottom of the Xpedo Thurst in this article).
Sadly, I found that the review dates back to ... 2011 and that all the information is quite outdated.

Xpedo has a newer model which happens to be lighter at 170 gr. and also cheaper at about 160€ online.

So, please guys, try to publish more recent information instead of relying on 8 year old reviews

Being interested in the Xpedo Thurst 8, I checked the review from road.cc (link at the bottom of the Xpedo Thurst in this article).
Sadly, I found that the review dates back to ... 2011 and that all the information is quite outdated.

Xpedo has a newer model which happens to be lighter at 170 gr. and also cheaper at about 160€ online.

So, please guys, try to publish more recent information instead of relying on 8 year old reviews

Thanks anyway for all the ahrd work!

Link to this latest Xpedo pedal, and do they work with Keo cleats well?

Had another brand of Keo compatible pedals which I couldn't get my foot out of, which were bloody dangerous